Independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, whose investigation of President Clinton revived a debate over special prosecutors, will tell Congress today that he opposes renewing the law that put him in power. "The statute should not be reauthorized," Starr says in written testimony prepared for his appearance before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. "Jurisdiction and authority over these cases ought to be returned to the Justice Department."

The Justice Department has put its misconduct investigation of independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr on hold while waiting to see whether Starr resigns or significantly curtails his activities after the independent counsel law expires June 30, sources familiar with the deliberations said. If Starr were no longer an active prosecutor, the Justice Department could simply forgo the inquiry into Starr's handling of the Monica S. Lewinsky matter.

The final witness in Susan McDougal's trial testified Monday that independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr's office, in an effort to get McDougal to talk, offered to let someone else decide whether she should be charged with perjury. Former Starr prosecutor Ray Jahn said that McDougal was told in 1996 that if there came a point when there was a question about whether she had committed perjury, the matter would be turned over to an independent prosecutor.

In newly unsealed court papers in the Monica S. Lewinsky investigation, independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr says the White House and defense lawyers--not the prosecutor's office--were the prime suspects in a flood of leaks to the news media. Clinton's attorneys scoffed at the suggestion the White House was the source of the leaks, accusing the prosecutor's office of "trying to deflect attention from itself." Early in the inquiry, Clinton lawyer David E.

Independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr says that he and his top deputy have often spoken to reporters on a not-for-attribution basis about their investigation of President Clinton and his relationship with former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky, sometimes discussing sensitive information about what witnesses have told prosecutors.

President Clinton's personal secretary, Betty Currie, was expected to be summoned before a grand jury investigating the White House sex scandal for a second time today, sources close to the probe said Monday. Currie was the first witness called in January when the panel supervised by independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr began hearing evidence on whether Clinton had an affair with former White House intern Monica S.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the White House must turn over to Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr subpoenaed notes taken by White House lawyers when investigators questioned Hillary Rodham Clinton, sources said. In a still-sealed decision, the appeals court panel held that the White House cannot cite attorney-client privilege in the matter, overruling a federal judge in Little Rock, Ark.

The Whitewater prosecutor is allowing the FBI to give a Senate panel information on legal records found in the White House, including whether fingerprints from the Clintons or their aides were found. An FBI analysis is said to show First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's fingerprints on the 1985-86 billing records from her former law firm. The Republican-led Senate Whitewater Committee recently subpoenaed independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr for that analysis.

Independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr said Wednesday that The Times was in error last month when it reported that he views the Whitewater trial in Arkansas as a way to obtain evidence against President Clinton. In a letter released to reporters, Starr said an article in The Times on April 13 was "seriously inaccurate" when it described his deputy, W. Hickman Ewing Jr., as saying the prosecutor hopes to persuade defendants in the trial to give incriminating evidence against the president.